DEVELOPING AHEAD

It was this morning when I was travelling to my college and I saw a gentlemen sitting opposite me reading a newspaper with the front page headline reading “ St. Andrews’ suspends professor following molestation charges “. In the current scenario, a rape case being published in a newspaper has become almost as common as matrimonial advertisements.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 24,206 rape cases have been filed in 2011 with Delhi being the “Rape Capital” of India. Speaking about Delhi and rape cases one can never miss out the 16 December, 2012 Delhi rape case which attracted the maximum amount of attention and has been acclaimed as one of the most brutal rape cases of all time in India. A 23 year old female physiotherapist intern was beaten and gang-raped in a bus when she was travelling with a male companion at 9:30 PM. The rape case involved 5 men present in the bus including the bus driver and a 17 year old juvenile who is said to have brutally raped her twice amongst all. The victim is said to have been brutally raped and knocked unconscious with an iron rod. The two were thrown out of the moving bus and then the driver tried to mow them down leaving no witnesses to their heinous act. The victim died 15 days later after going through many surgeries and infections and leaving behind innumerable protests, vigils and marches all over the nation.

The rape case gained a high amount of public attention leading to protests outside the CM’s house, Candle light vigil, speeches and statements by celebrities and Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp statuses and display picture updates. The very first question which arose in my mind was “Why now? ”. This surely isn’t the first Brutal-rape case in India, Is it a part of the cheap gimmick used by TV news channels to raise their TRP or some under-table political strategy ?

Coming back to the rallies and protests, I really don’t understand how this is going to stop rape attempts! The same paper which published about the protests made for the Delhi rape case all over the country, published about rape cases happening the same day. Then how is it helping the situation get better? The so called “Protests” was not only limited to the newspapers and channels but also my friend’s Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp display pictures which changed to the “Black dot “ and status updates, the reason being a small attempt to show their support to the protests against women rights.

People must firstly understand that joining in rallies and lighting candles can do nothing better other than advertising footwear brands and candles. There has to be severe “Punishments” by which an individual fears to commit a crime like that. Also the coming generations should be given proper sex education and a broad minded approach towards sensitive topics like this. People should change their mentality to treat other people as fellow human beings first. Going through the newspaper articles I came across a comment made by  Manohar Lal Sharma, one of the suspect’s lawyer who said that it was the mistake of the woman, that she was not decently dressed and that no one will think of even touching a “girl with respect” and also the male companion because “he failed in his duty to protect the woman”. I surely have to meet this man ! It is an individual’s choice of what he/she wants to wear. No one has any rights to raise any questions on that. Anyway if that was the case why would prostitutes  be seen wearing the good old fashioned saree?

If examined the rape cases filed these days, not all of them are truly a rape case. The biggest example being that of the Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja who was accused of raping his domestic help. Clearly the case was one-sided and biased, thanks to the general judgemental mind set of the Indian people. Did no one really think of why a decent successful actor like him actually would try and rape his maid, when he is happily married ?

From the time I’ve attained my mature senses I’ve heard India of India being “ a developing nation” . I wonder when our country will be called a developed one. With such cheap cases coming in, we, Indians are famous around the globe for the wrong reasons. Child sex abuse is also another issue coming up. We presently live in a society which not only charges for a happy childhood but also for their mere existence. India, is striving hard to attain a position in the world market, is pulled back by such cases.

In this situation In whose hand is our country getting into?